Roll forming of moving materials such as sheet metal is a well-known procedure, which results in high production speeds, and minimizes costs. However, in general, roll forming is suitable only for forming longitudinal formations along the length of the continuously moving strip.
If the material had to be cut, or if transverse formations were formed in it, then usually such formations or cuts were carried out by what is known as "flying dies". Such flying dies were reciprocated to and fro lengthwise along the length of the material, and closed on the material, when they had been accelerated up to the speed of the line.
In the great majority of cases however such flying dies were used only as cut off dies at the end of the line for simply cutting the material to the desired length.
In most cases, forming operations other than straight forward roll forming, were carried out on stationary punch presses, or a series or such stationary punch presses in what was known as "progressive dies". This technique however is much slower, and consequently production costs are greatly increased.
It will be appreciated from this background description, that most of these systems have reference to the forming of sheet metals, whether steel or other types of metal. However, many of these techniques have also been applied to the forming of a wide variety of other materials. For example, materials as various as plastic materials, cork, rubber, leather, carpet, paper, cardboard and textiles, to name only a few, have all been conventionally formed with some form of press operation with various types of different forming dies, both for cutting and/or forming impressions in such materials.
In U.S. Pat. No. RE 33,613 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,397, granted to E. R. Bodnar, there are disclosed a rotary forming apparatus for forming and punching material in a continuously moving strip. This apparatus and method is a substantial advance over prior art forming methods. In that apparatus, upper and lower rotary members were provided on opposite sides of the strip. On each of the rotary members there was at least one die support which was movable in a semi-rotary manner relative to the rotary member. Guide pins were provided at opposite ends of each die support. Guide pins were in turn controlled by guide grooves or cams at each end of the rotary member. The guide pin at one end of the die support was on the leading end of the die support, and the guide pin at the other end was on the trailing end of the support. The profiles of the two guide grooves were designed so that the leading and trailing guide pins at opposite ends of the die support, could ride in the two grooves simultaneously. In this way, the upper and lower die supports could be rotated into the correct position just prior to closing, during closing, and after closing, so that they were parallel with one another and so that the two dies were aligned and registered with one another thereby insuring that the dies closed and opened on the material to perform the forming or punching operations required in a precisely registered fashion.
In addition to this, register pins, and corresponding recesses, were provided in the die supports, to assist in registering the two die supports and their respective dies in the manner described.
Such apparatus was successful, and was operated with some degree of success. However, it has now been determined that an even greater degree of control can be obtained over the positioning of the die supports and dies, and produce still further advantages.
Accordingly, it is apparent that it is desirable to still further develop the foregoing apparatus, so as to produce more precise control over the position of the two respective die supports on their respective upper and lower rotary members, at a point just before they close, and while they close and while they open. Controlling of the position of the die supports during the rest of the rotation of the rotary members is not of course so critical, since the die supports and their respective dies are out of contact with one another, and are substantially inactive, and consequently registration is not required.